The bodies of six U.S. servicemen return home

The bodies of the six U.S. servicemen killed by a suicide bomber near Bagram air base in Afghanistan are returned to the United States. Rough Cut-subtitled (no reporter narration).

The bodies of six U.S. servicemen return home

ROUGH CUT-SUBTITLED (NO REPORTER NARRATION)

The bodies of six U.S. servicemen killed by a suicide bomber near Bagram air base in Afghanistan were returned to the United States on Wednesday (December 23).

Defense Secretary Ash Carter attended the “dignified transfer” ceremonies which included that of Staff Sgt. Chester J. McBride, from Statesboro, Georgia, who served in the United States Air Force, in “Operation Freedom’s Sentinel”.

A female officer in the Air Force, who was one of the first openly gay service members to get married, was identified on Tuesday as being among the six U.S. troops killed.

The attack happened Monday (December 21) when a suicide bomber on a motorbike struck their patrol group in the deadliest attack on U.S. forces this year.

Bagram, around 40 km (25 miles) north of Kabul, is one of the main bases for the remaining 9,800 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, after international troops ended combat operations last year.

The Taliban, which claimed responsibility for the strike, remains resilient 14 years after the start of U.S. military engagement in Afghanistan. It has ramped up its attacks this year, inflicting heavier casualties on Afghan security forces.

Just last week, the Pentagon warned of deteriorating security in Afghanistan and assessed the performance of Afghan security forces as “uneven and mixed.”

More than 2,300 U.S. troops have died in the Afghan war since the 2001 invasion, but the pace of U.S. deaths has fallen off sharply since the end of formal U.S. combat and a drawdown of American forces.